Have you ever been talking to a friend on the phone and lamented the fact they were so far away? That's exactly the problem this bizarre shoulder-mounted MH-2, or 'miniature humanoid', seeks to solve. By turning them into a Jiminy Cricket sitting on your shoulder, minus the good advice.

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Powered by a hefty-looking backpack full of servos—which animate the robot—the real-life avatar has a surprising range of motions in its head, body, and arms that let it strike a variety of poses mimicking the person you're talking to. Who, we might add, needs to be using or wearing some kind of motion capture setup so that their actions are translated to the robot.

It all sounds a bit cumbersome and awkward for both parties, which is probably going to ensure this thing never goes past the research stage. So if you were really hoping to one day use this contraption to share your travels around the world with a friend, just buy them a plane ticket and have them come along instead. [Automaton]